NAIRI: Tower of Shirin (2018) [PC]

You go through life wondering what is it all about but at the end of the day it’s all about family.

– Rod Stewart

Nairi is having just the WORST day. First, her old raccoon tutor makes her do the most boring homework assignment. Then, right in the middle of a good pre-homework nap, said tutor bursts into the room and tells her that her parents have been taken by the Royal Guard and she has to run for her life immediately. Then, in the middle of being smuggled out of the city, she’s kidnapped by a gang of cat thieves who think a runaway rich girl would make a pretty valuable hostage. They’ve locked her in their treasure vault while they figure out who might want to pay for her, but unfortunately for them, they’ve locked her in with all she needs to get started on an escape plan: an old knife and her wits. Nairi’s life may have gone to the dogs in the blink of an eye, but she’s not going to let it get any worse if she has anything to say about it.

This is just the beginning of Nairi’s adventure in NAIRI: Tower of Shirin. A classic point-and-click adventure, you take on the role of the titular character, a spunky but sheltered young girl with one goal in mind: find out what happened to her family and, if possible, save them. Having almost never been allowed outside her family mansion, the world just outside her door is much bigger and stranger than she imagined, but she’s willing to team up with any thief, cutpurse, or notorious scholar who can help her find her family. Which is good, because that’s exactly what she has to do, along with a little casual theft, relationship ruining, and chandelier destruction.

I’ve been a Point and Click gamer since I could wrap my hand over a mouse, growing up on the Sierra classics. Once I moved to consoles, though, point and clicks became a thing of my past. Fond memories (maybe fonder than some of them should have been  *cough*KINGSQUEST6*cough*). Most of the LucasArts ones still adorn my To Play list. And then along came this game that looked like an homage to Studio Ghibli: the bright colors and settings, the vivid animal characters loaded with personality, the spunky never-give-up heroine. It was an instant must-play. And in the end, I was not left disappointed. NAIRI: Tower of Shirin is as charming as it looks. 

You play as Nairi, the poor little rich girl having the worst day of her life. She’s never been out of the house much. Her father forbade it. But while she may be sheltered, she’s not helpless. She’s got an entire childhood of rich girl education to help her solve her way through her problems, and a likeability that draws people to help her… as long as she’s willing to help them too. Which, of course we are. Why wouldn’t we? We get to commit duck fashion crimes in pursuit of our family. 

Is that a hat with lollipop sticks glued on, you ask?

Yes. Yes it is.

Fashion crimes. For our family.

So, Why the Fashion Crimes?

The thing about point and click games is that they make or break entirely on their story, because at their core, that’s all they are: a story with a few puzzles to solve mixed in with hidden picture games. NAIRI: Tower of Shirin’s story grabs you almost from the very first moment. When you first take control, you’re in the cat kidnapper’s dungeon-slash-loot-room, all alone and ready to solve your way out. You solve your way to freedom, make friends with your catnappers (they’re as soft and cuddly inside as they look outside), and enlist their help to find your parents.   

They connect you with a contact back in the city, in the poor district, a section even more unfamiliar to Nairi than her own rich side of town. Their contact is Rex, a rat with a history of bad business and an interest in researching the civilization that used to rule Shirin in relation to the Tower of Soluna, a structure not unlike the Tower of Babel. There’s a lot of construction on top, but Rex wants to know more about what’s under it, and he needs Nairi’s help.

A little breaking and entering and a tiny bit of magic later, and they’re in the long-lost guts of the tower, learning about mysterious Messengers and something called the Storm (Capitals are required. That’s how you know it’s fantasy.) Turns out, Nairi is one of these Messengers, someone able to see into the past and begin to unravel what the ancient civilization was and about this Storm that destroyed it.

Did you guess that the Storm is coming back and she’s probably the only one who can save her current civilization? Give yourself a pat on the back. Storytelling 101 right there. It’s a basic plot, but it’s a gripping one. Paired with the game’s gorgeous art and quirky characters, you’re ready to see it through to the end, cliche or not.

The only problem I had with this game is there’s not really anything to warn you that Tower of Shirin is a Part 1 of ???. The game keeps you on your toes with twists and flashbacks, but when it ends, the story is far from over. You’re left with almost as literal a cliffhanger as possible. It’s one of those times when the credit roll and you’re left yelling, “THAT’S IT?!” at your screen. There’s still so much to resolve. Something big is about to happen with Nairi stuck in the middle, she’s nowhere near saving her parents, and you’re left with a big old To Be Continued. Will I get part two? Absolutely. The adventure’s far from over. I just wish I had been warned going in that there would be more to come. Thankfully, we’ve gone from “more to come” to “coming soon.” While NAIRI: Rising Tide doesn’t have a release date yet beyond a vague “2021”, we’ve got a Steam page, a demo, and hope, and I can hardly wait to return to the world with dangerous storms and duck bars.  

The 8-Bit Review

Visuals: 10/10 

There’s no denying the pure visual appeal of NAIRI: Tower of Shirin. It. Looks. Good. The character designs are as vibrant as their personalities, even the background ones. The world is just beautiful, from the deserts above ground to the dungeons under it.

 Audio: 7/10

Unlike many other point and click adventures, NAIRI: Tower of Shirin unfortunately does not include voice acting, and it’s possibly weaker for it. The vibrant characters and dialogue could have popped just a little more if they were spoken, but then, voice acting is a gamble in and of itself that can make a good game great or a great game unbearable. The in-game music and sound, however, is quite nice and atmospheric.

 Narrative: 8/10

I really wanted to give this a 10/10, but the fact that ultimately, it’s an incomplete story docked a few points. But it’s an excellent story that’s fun to take a jaunt through. If you want the whole story, you’ll be waiting a while, but if part 2 continues with the energy and atmosphere of part 1, it’ll be worth the wait.

 Challenge: 6/10

It’s always a gamble what kind of Point and Click a point and click will be. Will the logic make sense? Will there be puzzles or will it be “click every pixel for the exact thing you need”? With Nairi, yes, the logic makes sense, yes, there are puzzles both easy and tricky, and yes, there’s a little bit of pixel hunting for hidden coins, but it’s generous, very much like finding the secrets in a Professor Layton game. It’s a well-balanced game for newbies and experienced gamers alike.

 Uniqueness: 9/10

Honestly, I could just leave this picture here and say nothing else. I think it answers the question of the game’s uniqueness fairly well.

As far as point and clicks and stories go, it doesn’t break any molds, but the characters are unlike any others. Look at that awful penguin. He’s just terrible. A short and stumpy Don Juan with a ‘stache. You can’t help but love to hate him. Throw in the beautiful desert setting and the cute anthropomorphic animal friends, and you’re in for a game that is like everything you know and unlike anything you’ve seen. 

 Accessibility: 9/10

Considering that all you need to play this is a mouse, the general ease of the puzzles, the minimal pixel hunting, and the clearly legible text, this is a game that basically anyone of any age and gaming ability can pick up and enjoy. 

 Gameplay: 8/10

It’s a point and click. Can’t get more basic than that for gameplay. You point at something, you click on it, you see what, if anything, happens. I didn’t find any way to softlock by clicking on something in the wrong order or using an item at the wrong time *cough*KINGSQUEST5*cough* so by all qualifiers of a point and click, it does just about perfectly.

Personal: 9/10

It had been a long time since I played a point and click, so NAIRI: Tower of Shirin was both a trip down memory lane and a new and endearing experience that has left me wanting more. I’m eagerly awaiting part two, though I really hope it’s the end of the story and there’s not a part 3 looming in the distance. I understand releases as chapters, but let me know beforehand what I’m getting into, please?

Aggregated Score: 8.2

Maggie Maxwell spends most of her days buried in her fiction writing, only coming up for air to dive into the escapism of video games, cartoons, or movies. She can usually be found on Twitter as @wanderingquille and @MaxNChachi or streaming on Twitch with her husband, also as MaxNChachi.